On Wednesday, Sept. 25, Ken Rombough took flight from Fort Nelson’s Gordon Airfield in a Seawind 2000. These planes are considered amateur or kit built; however, this particular aircraft was built at the Seawind factory.
Shortly after takeoff a loud noise was heard which we now know was a mechanical engine failure that subsequently caused an in-flight fire. Ken called an emergency into flight services before losing engine power.
We are thankful that Ken is a very experienced pilot and was able to fly the plane without the engine running, in an attempt to land on a street in Fort Nelson. He managed to fly between the power lines; however, on the last set of lines the landing gear clipped the silver and white neutral line that is very difficult to see. We are extremely grateful that he did not sustain extremely serious injuries.
Ken would like to thank the folks at flight services for their immediate response. We would like to thank all of those people who work in the emergency services who responded to the accident: Dr. Hattingh and nurse Alonnie; the folks who assisted Ken once he had gotten himself out of the plane; Lou, Scott and Alisha from Brandt Tractor; and Victoria from Cat Rentals. Special thanks to Dave Soles, Brent Munro, Travis Hunter, Marty Wells, Dean Lorenz, Kevin Elgie and Lorne Kelly. Thank you to everyone for your calls of concern and support.
Also special thanks to Wade Roberts and Rick Nielson of Whitehorse for getting our Chris and Ralph to us. We apologize for anyone that we may have missed.
Tammi Krehbiel, on behalf of the Rombough families
Fort Nelson